CEE is collaborative.
When Katelyn Herberholz enrolled at UMD as a freshman in Fall 2022, she was familiar with the campus, having visited several times. Her father is a faculty member in the Psychology Department, and her sister also attended UMD. The Civil and Environmental Engineering Department was new to her, however. She initially applied to UMD with the intention to major in Aerospace Engineering, but a summer internship in that field after her junior year of high school made her realize she would prefer something more hands-on and tangible. She switched quickly to CEE, where she has specialized in the Transportation and Project Management track.
Katelyn’s CEE Department coursework has provided some of the experiences she’s valued most in her time at UMD. This past winter, Katelyn studied abroad in Italy for Dr. Goulias’ Sustainable Green Infrastructure for the Urban Environment course, which she calls “one of my favorite experiences in college.” In this course, students paired with the University of Turin to research thermal heat. Another of Katelyn’s favorite courses was Dr. Andrade’s Engineering for Sustainability class. “I absolutely loved it,” she says, adding that it sparked her passion for renewable energy.
Katelyn has also been very engaged in extracurriculars throughout her time at UMD. For her first two years of college, she was in College Park Scholars in the Science, Technology, and Society program. She says her Scholars classes helped her form close friendships. She has also been an ASCE member for all four years, and has participated in Concrete Canoe for three. Last year she was part of Concrete Canoe mix team, and this year is the leader of the aesthetics team. This allowed her to represent UMD at the ASCE Regional Symposium, where her team placed first this year for design and construction. Katelyn is also serving as a Clark School Ambassador this year. In addition, she worked for three years as a marketing intern for UMD’s Athletics Marketing Department.
Katelyn has managed to balance these extracurriculars with a stellar academic record, something she attributes partly to “a Google calendar updated to the minute.” She also makes sure to take time for herself and for friends, and in her spare time she enjoys reading and watching movies. She says it’s “important to remember that while school is important, you need to have other hobbies and passions.”
Katelyn has also had internships each summer of her college career. After freshman year, she interned for Whiting-Turner doing in-office pre-construction work like reviewing drawings and communicating with subcontractors, and got to participate in several site tours. She interned for them again the following summer doing more on-site work as a project manager, which she preferred. Following junior year, after doing some research on consulting, she interned with KPMG as an Advisory Intern for Infrastructure and Capital Projects (ICA). In this role, she worked with a team to ensure client compliance with Prevailing Wage requirements for workers, and with clients across the country to promote renewable energy.
Katelyn is now a senior, planning to graduate in Spring 2026. She says her favorite part of being a CEE major at UMD has been “the community,” adding, “It’s collaborative. Everyone wants everyone to succeed, which only happens if we succeed together.” She says she is now “savoring her last year” with her roommates. After graduation she hopes to travel, including a return visit to Germany, where she has family, and a first visit to Japan. She will then move to Manhattan, where she has accepted a job offer as an ICA Associate for KPMG. She will be working in the company’s new building, and has already met several of her coworkers. With her strong work ethic and enthusiasm for collaboration, she is ready to keep building the kinds of communities where everyone succeeds together.
Top